The "belief" is that the Blue Jays will go to an arbitration hearing with Jose Bautista, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post. There have been rumors that the Jays might avoid a hearing by signing Bautista to a long-term contract, but Bautista's agent told Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports that the team has yet to offer such a deal to the defending AL home run champion. Check out our Arb Tracker for the latest.

Many of Bautista's current and former teammates believe Vernon Wells will thrive in L.A, Morosi writes.

Yankees GM Brian Cashman suggested this morning that Derek Jeter will likely shift to the outfield before his current deal expires, but he tells MLB.com's Bryan Hoch that it's "not an issue we have to deal with right now" (Twitter link).

The Orioles have "limited funds" at this stage, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com (on Twitter).

Carl Crawford, who recently left one AL East team for another, plans to meet some of his former Rays teammates for dinner this spring, and B.J. Upton jokes that it will be a good chance for Crawford to put his new contract to good use. "I won’t be the first one to pull out my credit card,’’ Upton told Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times (Twitter link).

WEEI.com's Rob Bradford explains why Manny Ramirez's $2MM base salary isn't necessarily a bad omen for David Ortiz, who will hit free agency after 2011. Big Papi has continued to produce offensively, so Bradford suggests the slugger could be in line for an $8-9MM salary next offseason.

in all seriousness though i think its a good thing that teams are now looking to sign the players that best fit their teams as opposed to just signing a player because his name is recognizable by most…papi will find work next year…hes still a power, lefthanded hitter…probably go to an AL team that misses out on Prince Fielder

It’s a good way to keep regulars legs fresh, it would be interesting if their was a stat sheet to show if hamstring or any other leg related injuries have been declining, it SEEMS like it has, but I could be wrong.

It’ll help for one reason: his connection with Boston. I think that bond is still definitely strong enough for Boston to consider overpaying to keep him in town. They’re not going to go crazy…not going to give him a Jeter contract or anything, but if he brings his price down to the 7-9mm range, I could see Boston giving that to him. Maybe even do a two-year deal if that would take him to the end of his career, so he can finish it in Boston. Besides, its not like Boston is in a huge rush to clear out that DH slot…Lars Anderson or Ryan Lavarnway are probably the best in-house candidates for the job, and neither make a truly compelling case. Lavarnway MAYBE, in a couple of years if he continues to outperform…but otherwise. And after that they’d be hard-pressed to find on the open market a healthy, young DH who can guarantee bigger production than Ortiz. Their other fulltime options there would just be a collection of other old, breaking-down players…they might as well stick with the town hero.

Not to be too serious but Pujols in his career has played 1B, 3B, and the outfield so there is potential to move him. Not that any team would. But on the other hand Youkilis has also played 1B, 3B and the outfield and this is JD’s last year so it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibilities that the Red Sox could put Pujols at 3rd, A-Gone at first and Youkilis in Right Field. Will that happen in my lifetime? No, probably not. But you never know in baseball.

I wonder if the Yankees would sign Ortiz on a 1 or 2 year deal as their DH. The only thing is maybe they want to make A-Rod the DH after this year when Posada will retire or maybe they think A-Rod has 1 or 2 more years at 3B and they’ll go after Ortiz. If Ortiz would sign with the Yankees that is.

Well..obviously. I honestly don’t think there will be a “true” ace like pitcher on the market during the season. After the season, maybe, as teams might decide to move potential 2012 FA in their last year. I don’t see Montero being moved for EJ, CJ Wilson or Buerhle though. Probably not even Carpenter.

Why is it so hard for fans to understand that players get paid on past performance and the projection of future performance which is not too reliable. Although its better than most jobs where people are paid by years of experience.

I will quickly point out, in respect to Ortiz possibly getting 8-9mm, is that in 2010 he did manage a 3.3 WAR (according to fangraphs). They value 1 WAR at about 5m, so technically a salary of 10m for 2012 would still be worth it even if he drops a full 1 WAR below his 2010 production. So I guess its whether you believe in the 2009 Ortiz or the 2010 Ortiz, as he only earned 0.8 WAR in ’09. The 2010 Ortiz will still show decline over the next couple of years, but he could definitely be worth his salary.

Now, I realize its not just the worth of his salary, but how supply and demand are currently shaping his market. However, I think that doesn’t quite apply to Ortiz as much in his case with Boston, simply because of his relationship to the team. I think its a much smaller version of the Jeter deal we had this winter…in this case, Boston may pay Ortiz more around what his value “would” be in a higher-demand market, rather than try and get him to adjust to the current setting.

Also I do not see why people are down on Vlad. Look at his month by month numbers not just pre and post AS game. He had a horrible July. He had a so-so August. And finished the season strong in September with a .323/ .359/ .521 line. Hard not to like a guy who will hit ya 25+ HRs 100+ RBI and strikes out only 10% of the time.

Name another player who has played 14 seasons and his lowest B.Ave was .295.

I’m with ya, Shawn. I think Vlad is still a capable hitter, and he could definitely produce for a major league team. His problem right now is just finding someone with a spot for him. The fact that he can’t play defense is a big problem for him right now; teams either already have old can’t-defend players hitting DH for them (Boston w/Ortiz as example), or are using their DH slot to rotate their older guys or utility players to make perfect matchups (the Rays..Yankees, although mostly with the older guys for them…you see I have an AL East focus :P). The problem ends up being that the teams who would be interested mostly only have a backup or platoon slot available for him, and he, rightly, believes that his 2010 performance warrants a starting position. However, he seems to be becoming this years Jermaine Dye, a guy who could definitely still play major league baseball, but really doesn’t have any suitors that can offer more than a seat on the bench.

As for WAR, Jim Thome had a better year than Ortiz, with a 3.6 WAR year. Guerrero only got 2.6 WAR, but they both have relatively similar numbers to Papi. And this is about what I figured would show up…I guess, maybe Thome’s deal this year could be used as comparison for Ortiz next year. But, Thome has been the utility guy for a couple teams lately now, and it seems he’s accepted this new role given to him. Ortiz still has his ego, and again I think the folk hero factor will play out similar to Jeter. He’ll get overpaid sure, but all I’m saying is I think if we’re judging simply by what his production for the team is worth (by fangraphs WAR, at least), he could then be “worth” an 8-9mm salary.

It might be that Manny is still a better hitter than Papi. Over the last three years Manny beats Papi in Avg, OBP,SLG, and WRC according to fangraphs. Read the article on Manny vs. Vlad. This article is just another example of sour grapes in Boston since they haven’t won the series since Manny left.

Manny, much like his supporters, is an arse who cares only about himself! He is everything an athlete shouldn’t be as a person and he was no more important than Schilling, Foulke, Papi, Damon, Lowell or Beckett for our championships! You probably think that murderer of thousands of our troops, George W. Bush, was a great president too!

Wouldn’t it be epic if he could go in ala Boggs donning a Rays cap?! He can walk up to the podium with a Red Sox cap in his hand, gather up the dreds, then whip out the Rays cap and point to Yaz in the crowd and say “Do ya like apples (slips on cap), well how about ‘dem apples”?

Orioles limited funds? What a joke! They haven’t spent money in about 10 years and have made a solid profit on top of that, and yet don’t have the funds to sign a DH for a year who by all accounts wont be very expensive?

The O’s have signed 4 FAs this offseason. 1 is a 1 year contract for a first baseman, and the others pay a little over 10 this year for 2 relievers. Lastly Cesar Izturis as a backup IF. Even with Reynold and Hardy on the books, Wigginton, Mora, Hendrickson, Millwood (who was VERY expensive last year) are all off the books. How do they not have funds?

1. Its a trick to make free agents think they can’t overpay for them.
2. The lack of people coming to the ball park has finally taken its toll.

I am still trying to figure out when they will stop playing as a small market team. Everyone knows during their good seasons in ’96 & ’97 they had the highest payroll in baseball. And that was before they had their own network and were getting money from MLB for allowing the Nationals in their market.

Is Heyman full of bullstuff? Can you really just chose not to disclose cash involved in a deal like that? It doesn’t change my opinion of the trade but it still seems like $5 million is a quite a but of money not to report.

I don’t trust Heyman. the Angels are getting $5 million? but did not report it because they did not want to? Angles GM gets blasted for not taking money with Wells, but in fact he did take $5 million and didn’t feel like letting Angels fans know that? $5 MIL isn’t exactly a lot for baseball, but I’m sure it would have looked a little better to Angels fans?

the Jays should NOT sign Bautista long term. one season no matter how great it was does not mean a team should sign that player long term for what that player would be asking. let Bautista go into 2011 and if then he is still producing the Jays can approach him about a contract extension.
seeing that the Jays have not approached him about a contract extension I would assume then that the Jays would not be doing so. if the Jays right now really had any thoughts about a contract extension I’m sure they would have had discussions before now.

That makes absolutely zero sense. IF they are going to sign him to an extension, you sign him now when there is still a little bit of mutual risk in the fact that the Jays dont know if he will repeat, and neither does he. You may still be able to get him in the 3 year 35 mil range. If you wait, and he gets off to an amazing start, the Jays are pretty much screwed. 3/35 turns into 6/90 pretty quickly. From the other angle, if he gets off to a slow start, you lose any high end trade possibilities you may have had. I do agree with one thing, Heyman is an idiot.

I disagree, now is probably the worst time to sign him to an extension; Jose’s leverage could not be greater than just after his historic season which he’s 95% certain to never reproduce.

Also, if Jose would really take 3/35, what does that say about his confidence that he’ll be able to reproduce 2010? If he really believes that he’s got it all figured out, why would he leave all that money on the table?

My thoughts too. The Sox were kind enough to take his 2011 option rather than haggle over a $million or two but in a world where Manny at DH is costing $2 million, Ortiz will be lucky to get anything near 8/9 next season.

What happens when a guy needs that 100th run to trigger his bonus and the run producers go into a slump? You do not want that kind of finger-pointing going on in your team’s dugout. Pay for stats breeds divisiveness.

Lol! I’ve had Facebook since March! Can you believe this starting cuz I called Manny an “arse”? Actually, I can! I swear being a Corrections Officer in a max prison is easier than voicing an opinion here!